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Dr_Gary
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Shared Folder Issue in Fusion 5

I am experiencing a shared folder issue on 2 of my mac's running Fusion 5.01/5.02.  This does not occur in Fusion 4.1.4.

When navigating through shared folders using File Explorer the VM will intermittently freeze for 10 to 60 seconds then un-freeze and continue to run normally.  This occurs in both Windows 7 and Windows 8 VM's.

During the freeze, all VM activity stops, the mouse will change to the “spinning beach ball”.  If I am using RDP to access one of these VM’s, the RDP session will break.

Is anyone else seeing this behavior?

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Dr_Gary
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Steve,

Just my 2 cents…but I hope your testing pursuant to this issue is not exclusively focusing on this new guest development software theory.

For the benefit of all of the posters to this thread...this shared folder symptom can be reproduced on my systems without any applications being installed on either the host or guest systems…other than Fusion 5.02, of course.

Just to reiterate…in an effort to eliminate as many variables as possible…I performed a clean install of OSX 10.8.2 on both a 2008 mac Pro and a 2011 mac mini.  I then installed Fusion 5.02 to the 2 mac’s…no other applications.  I next proceeded to build a new Windows 8 Professional VM on each…I installed no applications to the new guest VM’s whatsoever.   Yet the shared folder “freeze” symptom appears by simply using the built-in File Explorer. The symptom does not appear on Fusion 4.

I think testing with the development tools that have been mentioned may be insightful, but I really don’t believe that it is the proximate cause here. 

Thanks again for your help on this issue..

Dr G

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi Dr G.

Yes, I think that it is highly likely we are seeing a couple of different issues here - at least.

I think yours is definitely down to a run on the bank with file system change events. I still have not been able to generate that, but continue to try.

I also think that there could be an issue with Tortoise SVN -- as I have fixed other issues previously with this application.

Lastly, the f-prot AV I have not tested with for a couple of years, and I think that I might have seen issues with before too, but it doesn't hurt to retest and see if something new has come along. Products change every year and so do there interactions - so I am going to recheck.

I am using multiple VMs on two different machines so I hope to replicate some issues here.

It is frustrating when I can't though, as it makes for fixing and even validating fixes extremely difficult to do with any confidence.

Thanks for your confirmation about your issues though. At least yours seems to be something that at least we know to stop the symptoms, just triggering the issue generally is frustrating. Smiley Happy

Thanks. Steve
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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply.

I can also confirm that I have no problem reproducing this same issue on a completely fresh installed Windows 8 guest.

Just browsing the shared folders in the tree part of Windows Explorer does indeed make Windows Explorer run up to 80% CPU or more for a minute or so.

The only other thing that I can think of that might make a difference is that I am sharing the same folder with multiple guests at the same time concurrently.

Eg. the same folder is shared with a Windows XP and Windows 7 guest.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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ElysianLabs
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Steve,

It has been a while since I had this problem. It just popped up again, and this time Windows was frozen for approx. 5 minutes. I have no idea why it hasn't occured for a while, and even less idea as to why it just happened again. For what it's worth, the trigger was simply browsing a shared SVN folder via Windows Explorer.

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ducky
Contributor
Contributor

After reinstalling OSX and upgrading to 10.8.2 yesterday, I am now experiencing the same issue as Dr. Gary.  My next step is to change the setting in .vmx to see if I have the same issue.  Here is one message from the Console that seems to repeat often.

2/20/13 4:39:16.186 PM WindowServer[91]: reenable_update_for_connection: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "VMware Fusion" after 19.97 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)

And another set:

2/20/13 4:39:31.273 PM vmware-vmx[3370]: AQMEIO_Base::DoStartIO: timeout
2/20/13 4:39:36.299 PM vmware-vmx[3370]: AQMEDevice(0x10225ad40)::StartIO: error -66681
2/20/13 4:39:51.504 PM vmware-vmx[3370]: AQMEIO_Base::DoStartIO: timeout
2/20/13 4:39:56.529 PM vmware-vmx[3370]: AQMEDevice(0x1013a2410)::StartIO: error -66681
2/20/13 4:40:11.658 PM vmware-vmx[3370]: AQMEIO_Base::DoStartIO: timeout
2/20/13 4:40:16.683 PM vmware-vmx[3370]: AQMEDevice(0x105dd0440)::StartIO: error -66681

Looking forward to an update.

DeWayne

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Thanks to all who are adding more replies and information.

I still have not run into these hangs for extended periods of time when using the Explorer to navigate shares.

I am running Windows 8 and I do have Tortoise SVN installed. I have some svn projects with code files stored on the share too.

No luck for me so far, so I am still stuck.

I will look for the messages too.

Thanks. Steve
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goelp
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,
I am also facing the same issue.
My setup:
Host System: OSX 10.8.2 running on MBP Retina + VM Fusion 5.0.2
Guest System: Win 7 64-bit
Scenario: I have a XAMPP installation on Windows with Tortoise SVN installed. I use Textmate in OSX to do the development using shared folders (I use the tree browser functionality in TextMate).
Problem: The system keeps hanging every now and then for a few seconds, specially when switching from the guest system to the host system. It hangs everytime going from Windows to Textmate in OSX, but this hang lasts only a max of 2 seconds as opposed to several seconds for other hangs.

Piyush

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goelp
Contributor
Contributor

May be it is in the way I am connecting to the guest os's folder. I shared the desired folder in the guest os (windows) and am connecting through smb protocol form mac. Is this the right way to connect?

Piyush

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi Piyush,

Using SMB is one way to connect, but it sounds like you are not using VMware Shared Folders, only the Microsoft sharing to access SMB exports from your Windows virtual machine.

There isn't a correct or incorrect way to access the files from one environment (Windows virtual machine -VM) to the other (OS X drives).

It really depends on where you want to store your data files and what applications you are using to access (or modify) those files.


So for you, it seems that TextMate, is an OS X application that you need to use, and that you want to store your data files in the Windows VM.

Here, the files and server is really the Windows VM and the client (application -TextMate) is the client on the OS X side.

Why do you want to store your data files in the Windows VM? Can you not run a svn utility that is OS X based to get the source straight on to the OS X drives?

Usually, users who use VMware Shared Folders do so, because they want or need to use Windows applications, and want or need to store their data files on the OS X drives. This means then they can back them up using OS X tools and run spotlight to search through their data files.

In this scenario the file storage and server is on the OS X side and the client access (applications) is from the Windows side.

Just set up what makes sense for you and how you need to work.

As for your sticking or delay. Is the delay, when you first try and access files using TextMate or does the delay prevent you from accessing TextMate when you try and leave the Windows VM?

Thanks. Steve
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Dr_Gary
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Steve,

I have some very interesting new info on this issue in Fusion 5.

This morning, I performed a clean install of the newly released OSX 10.8.3 on my mac pro...and then installed the newly released Fusion 5.03 on it.  I upgraded my Windows 7 & Windows 8 VM's by installing the tools, etc.

I immediately saw the shared folder freeze issue in my Windows 8 VM...however, this time, I was able to display Task Manager during a long freeze...and I saw the Antimalware Service Executable task using 30% of the CPU...as soon as the freeze ended...the CPU went to 0.

I then proceeded to disable the Real-time protection in Windows Defender on Windows 8...and now....the shared folder freeze issue appears to be gone.

This reminds me very much of a similar issue that I had with shared folders back in Fusion 3 with Avast! AV.

I am not seeing the issue at all in my Windows 7 VM…which only has the Spyware component of Windows Defender…not the Anti-virus component, as is standard in Windows 8.

I will continue to monitor this, of course…

Any thoughts?

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Excellent, this is really helpful.

I can verify this in my own setup. I might not have the antimalware myself which would explain why I don't see the issue.

I will verify and try and track it down. I will update here if I can reproduce it. Then again, once that is done I will update what I find after that.


This makes me happy as there might be an interaction between the driver and Windows defender component scanning some of the directories and files that is slow. Or locks everything up.

Great find.

Thanks. Steve
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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Steve Goddard wrote:

Excellent, this is really helpful.

Yes that might be the unknown element we have been trying to locate. During the lockups down here I always only see Windows Explorer going to 100% of CPU usage, but Windows Defender antimalware is installed as well and it certainly might be getting sideloaded via Windows Explorer.

Keep us posted Steve on what you find.

Thanks

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Will keep you updated.

Thanks. Steve
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Dr_Gary
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Steve,

Just another update from my testing.

I performed another clean install of OSX 10.8.3 and then installed the latest Fusion 5.0.3 on 2 of my test mac’s…

I can now say with extreme confidence that all of my issues (except for one video artifact that has been reported by other users) in Fusion 5 are definitely related to enabling/using Shared Folders.  With Shared Folders disabled, I can re-enable real-time scanning in Windows Defender, use File Explorer, etc., without experiencing any of the intermittent lock-ups or slowdowns that I have seen in the past.

I have now tested this way for several days…and have never gone this long without an issue on my these systems.  Unfortunately, Shared Folders are a feature I have used extensively in the past, so I am still running my production VM’s in Fusion 4.1.4, where Shared Folders work just fine.

I think that Shared Folders are almost certainly the common thread for users reporting this issue with Fusion 5. 

If I can be of any assistance, for testing, please let me know.  I sure would like to get this resolved so I can move my production ahead to Fusion 5.

Thanks for your help...

Dr G

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hey there,

I am actively trying a similar set up from my end as close to yours as I can.

Obviously, I don't have the same set of files on the OS X side that I am sharing though.

However, maybe we can refine your testing somewhat? How about you enable the real-time scanning in Windows defender but modify the settings to exclude those paths or drives you have mapped for the VMware Shared Folders. Then lets see if that allows you to work without intermittent hangs.

Then we can fine grain this further maybe narrowing down to the exclusions and see how far we get before the intermittent hangs reappear.

It could be only one part of a share that is causing the issue. On the other hand it could be all or just any. It would be helpful to know which if any make a diffierence.

You are providing some great help, thanks.


Also at some stage we might be able to monitor the VM file IO by installing the process monitor utililty from www.sysinternals.com to see what is going on when we get these hangs too. You can then save the trace as a log file and send it to me in a private message.

Thanks. Steve
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Dr_Gary
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Steve,

I know there is an option to exclude folder/files in the Windows 8 - Windows Defender from scans...but I don't believe that this setting applies to the so-called real-time protection or on-access scanning. 

In fact, I added the shared folders to the exclusion list...and still had the issue.  Turning off real-time protection did mitigate the issue...but I still saw intermittent stalls. 

Only after I disabled Shared Folders altogether did the problem completely disappear.

Dr G

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steve_goddard
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Seems like the only real option now is tracing the file IO while defender is scanning your shared folders and see what it is doing which causes the hangs.

So you think you can try that? (Install Process Monitor and run it, filtering for any file IO containing the "vmware-host" in the file path name should do the trick.

Thanks. Steve
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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Steve,

That was one of the things I thought about doing as well, but postponed on that as I'm busy.

However I just ran it here and the minute I forced my my explorer to lock up it is pretty much exclusively busy with zip files...

I can email you the .pml file if you want (don't like to attach it to this thread as it contains too much sensitive info)

But to give you a preview, it looks pretty much all like the picture that I attached.

There are 2 interesting parts here:

- first of all the overflow seems to be strange

- second of all, it just goes over a few zip files and appears to revisit them over and over and over again.

PS: The name that I wiped out in the picture is made of simple ascii characters in the range of a to z only.

Will now try to see if there's a way to stop the zip scanning and if that actually makes the problem go away.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hmm... I feel myself sitting in the category "Do'h" as it seems to be solved by the click of a mouse already.

I did the following.

From start menu, I opened Control Panel, then selected Windows Defender on there.

Under the Tools menu, options I removed the checkbox at "Scan zip files" and in my quick testing it appears the lockups are mostly gone.

See also the screen shot of the settings attached.

Of course it should not do that on a shared folder and I'm not sure it is fixable by vmware other then making the shared folders a lot faster.

You can probably also mitigate the effect by adding more CPU cores to the VM, but it would still run one core to its limits.

For me this workaround is fine as my normal antivirus solution is the one who should do the zip scanning, for sure not windows defender.

Microsoft didn't really help much by confusing what the application really does (up to Windows 7 only malware scanning, from Windows 8 onwards also antivirus)

I'm happy disabling this windows defender option, knowing my VM is so much more usable now.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

An update on this.

Disabling the zip background scanning by Windows Defender did remove most of the high CPU for me.

However while using Outlook and trying to save an attachment in the shared folder I noticed high CPU again...

As the zip integration in Windows now was my direct suspect I decided to completely remove the integrated zip handling by windows explorer.

For me acceptable as I strongly dislike windows explorer's behavior to treat zip files as a folder. Already used 7zip for opening/creating zip files, so nothing is lost by doing this for me.

So I used the steps as laid out here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/13619-zip-folders-enable-disable-windows-explorer-view.html

Restarted my VM to apply that change.

...and that indeed now also seems to fix the high CPU in the "save as" dialog.

Of course not having to take any of these workaround steps would be nicer, but I personally am at least happy to have a responsive VM.

Will let you all know if the problem does come back again (hopefully not)

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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